Chapter 153 - New Outfit From Aarim

Waking up early in the morning, Shiro sat on the tree branch and waited for Lyrica to exit out the trial. The first thing she did whilst waiting was attempting to upgrade her current set armour with the orb.

Unfortunately, it wasn't able to upgrade the entire set but instead, gave her the option to upgrade a single piece of armour.

Eventually settling with the helmet, due to the fact that it gave her the biggest INT upgrade, Shiro was pretty satisfied with the outcome.

[Demonic Blood Crystal Helmet (1/6) – Orange]

+350 INT

+15% Mana Efficiency

+10% Magic Attack  

+20% Life Steal Effectiveness

Passive Skill: Mind Ward

Mind Ward: Defends the user from a certain degree of mental attacks and debuffs that affect the mind.

After upgrading her armour, she started to create the Fire Burst Bullets.

With her stock of Flaming Lotus Grass, she could make a pretty sizable batch.

However, as she was making the bullets, she couldn't help but notice how Lyrica hadn't exited yet.

'What's taking her so long?' Shiro thought to herself in confusion.

Shaking her head, she decided to check to see if Lyrica left the trial later today since she needed to take Silvia to Aarim.

"Yin!" Shiro called out. Not too long after, Yin landed on her shoulders and held out her wing for a mana stone.

"Che, glutton. This princess is literally out of mana stones at this point. We'll go to a dungeon either tonight or tomorrow for some food ok?" Shiro said, handing Yin one of her remaining 3 D rank mana stones. She did have a small stock of C ranked stones but she wasn't about to let Yin eat them now. That was due to the fact that the total EXP she could receive would be reduced as she has not entered C class just yet.

*Chirp!

Yin voiced her agreement since she too hated the fact that she had to ration her food.

"But don't worry too much. Once me and you hit C rank, we'll have an all you can eat buffet ok?" Shiro grinned since she couldn't wait to chow down on some C ranked mana stones.

*Chirp!

Yin's eyes glowed with excitement from just imagining the scene.

###

Meeting up with Silvia at a coffee shop, she led her towards Aarim's rented workshop.

"Now, the woman who you're about to meet 'might' display some unusual items and habits around the place but you can ignore it." Shiro said as she wanted to warn Silvia beforehand.

"What do you mean by unusual?"

"Unusual as in s.e.x toys and other items." Shiro replied nonchalantly.

'HUH?!?!' Silvia widened her eyes as she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"Can you repeat that?" She asked with a small smile.

"Her old shop sold s.e.x toys and s.e.x related items." Shiro repeated since she understood how unusual it was to ask for an outfit from someone who sold s.e.x items.

Taking a moment to digest the information, Silva decided to see for herself before she judged. Plus, their group wasn't exactly the most normal so it was fine to have some weird friends.

Arriving at the spot, Shiro looked around and saw Aarim sitting on one of the tables.

"There she is." Shiro smiled.

Looking over, Silvia was surprised seeing an alluring woman with a devilish figure sitting casually at a table.

"You sure it's her?" Silvia asked nervously since she gave her the feeling that it wouldn't be good to offend her.

"Yeah, just follow me." Shiro nodded.

Sitting down in front of her, Shiro gestured for Silvia to sit beside her.

"It's been a while Shiro. Seems like you've changed quite a bit." Aarim raised an eyebrow seeing her void black irises.

"Yes it has, the change also helped me get my voice back." Shiro replied with a chuckle.

*PFFFF!!!!

Aarim choked on her drink hearing Shiro speak.

Before the drink could actually spill towards her, Shiro flexed her fingers and released a chilling mist that froze all of the water.

*clack clack clack

Seeing the pieces of ice that dropped onto the table, Aarim noticed Shiro's control over her ice had improved dramatically.

"Well damn, I seriously wonder what kind of background you have. Especially since your talent is by far one of the best I've seen." Aarim praised.

"You know that I don't remember anything from before New York. Now then shall we get Silvia's measurements?" Shiro shrugged it off.

However, Aarim wasn't convinced since she clearly remembered her having a reaction to the statue back in the underwater ruins. Plus, just the fact that the item was from another world meant Shiro either had a connection to that world or something to do with the statue.

"Fine, straight to the point huh? Follow me." Aarim chuckled and finished the rest of her drink.

Walking besides Aarim, Silvia peeked at her figure and couldn't help but compare the two of them together.

'Damn…' She thought to herself in defeat. However, once she glanced at Shiro, she felt a little better about herself.

"Oi, you just compared my figure to yours didn't you." Shiro head instantly turned in her direction as her eyes bore into Silvia's.

*Cough cough!

"No I didn't." Silvia replied hastily.

'Why is her intuition so sharp!!!' She cried out in her mind.

Narrowing her gaze at Silvia, Shiro decided to let it go for now. She didn't want to waste too much time, especially since she was going to head into a dungeon later today to farm for some mana stones.

"I'll let you off this time." Shiro frowned before turning around once again.

"Say Shiro, why do I feel like you've become scarier now that you've got your voice back hahaha." Aarim laughed.

"What's scarier? Being angry whilst talking or through text?" Shiro rolled her eyes since using text would diminish the effect.

"True." Aarim nodded since she wasn't wrong.

Arriving at the tailors association, Aarim led them to her rented workshop.

The workshop itself was still as cramped as what Shiro remembered but with the addition of 3 outfits hanging by the side.

"Yours is the one in the centre. Give it a try." Aarim gestured.

Unlike her current outfit, this was more in the category of casual wear. It featured a simple sleeveless one piece dress with frills and decorations near the neck and the skirt. It was coloured all black while the back of the dress is slightly see-through.

Along with the dress came a pair of gloves and stockings that was also coloured black. Both of them had a silver bracelet around the wrist and ankle area.

As for the gloves, they were the type that was extra long and reached her biceps.

"Why is there so much black?" Shiro asked whilst glancing backwards.

"Thought it'll look nice with your hair. Plus, you quite liked your current outfit so I only made a few changes. You can mix and match between the two if you want." Aarim replied with a shrug whilst taking Silvia's measurements.

"Well, you're not wrong." Shiro nodded since she did like the colour black.

Changing into her new outfit, she erected an ice mirror and inspected herself.

'Um, not bad.' She thought with a smile.

"Does it come with some shoes?" Shiro asked.

"Look down. The middle pair is yours." Aarim replied without looking.

The pair that Aarim pointed out was some ankle boots that had their heels shortened slightly. While it was shortened, it wasn't to the point where one wouldn't know.

Slipping into the boots, Shiro checked them out and was quite pleased. Not only were they comfortable, but because Aarim shortened the heels, she was able to still get a good grip on the floor.

'I should invite her to the party so that she can make more clothes for us.' Shiro thought with a grin/

"Say Aarim, why don't you join my party?" She offered.

"Nah I'm good for now. Plus, even if I join your party, it seems like you've got things figured out. Madison can tank, Lyrica can attack and you can help out with both. Plus, I remember you telling me that your friend here is a healer right? You've basically got all the bases covered" Aarim replied as she noted down Silvia's measurements.

"Well having some extra ranged firepower like a mage isn't bad either you know." Shiro shrugged.

"I suppose that's correct. Ah, before I forget, you lack a ranger. Getting one would benefit you greatly since they can detect traps and see through stealth." Aarim reminded.

"So many people to recruit." Shiro said as she stored her old outfit into her inventory.

"Alright, it should be relatively easy for me to get Silvia's outfit since I have a spare that would only need a few adjustments to fit her overall aesthetic."

"Then I'm guessing we're coming her again tomorrow to collect all of them?"

"Yeah pretty much. By the way, you want anything else with your outfit? I might as well do it now since you're here." Aarim asked as she sat down on her chair.

"Hmm, nothing really. I like the simple design. If anything, probably a hair tie or something." Shiro shrugged.

"In that case then have two. I got a ribbon one and a normal hair bang made from monster fabric. I used it when I was younger but I don't use them now." Aarim shrugged and passed her a black ribbon and a black hairband.

"You liked black too I'm guessing?"

"Yeah. Now get out of my workshop, I need to start making Silvia's outfit." Aarim chuckled and shooed them out of the room.

"See you tomorrow." They both said before leaving the room.

Storing the hairband into her inventory, Shiro decided to go for a change of pace and tied her hair into a ponytail.  

With some hair flowing down the sides, it framed her face and when paired with her ponytail, gave her a refreshing feeling. Of course, that's only if they ignored the fact that she was dressed in black from top to bottom.

But Shiro liked it since it was efficient on multiple fronts. Not only could she wear it casually, she could also use it during the night to hide herself more.

"I'm going to be going into a dungeon for now so we'll part ways here. See you tomorrow." Shiro smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." Silvia nodded before leaving as well.

Checking her map, Shiro decided to go to a high level ice type dungeon to farm since she can control all the ice around her. The ice type monsters would be at her mercy.

"Level 50 Luna Ice Forest. A dungeon filled with level 50 Luna Ice Wolves that attack as a pack. Very dangerous, don't challenge alone." She muttered the description of the dungeon she planned to attack.

Since her main goal was to earn some mana stones, she didn't need to worry about EXP. The best source of D rank mana stone would naturally be the level 50 dungeons since it is the peak of D rank.

The drop rates and the quality would be much better than normal due to the fact that it is almost C ranked.

Arriving at the location, Shiro instantly drew everyone's attention with her new look.

Ignoring the stares, Shiro looked around to see how she could sneak into the dungeon.

'Seems like I can probably drop down into the doorway if I sneak above them.' She thought before leaving the area.

Yin Style Asura's Path: Phantom Path.

Flicking over the buildings, Shiro started to parkour her way down.

Landing softly on one of the ledges, she smiled before jumping into the dungeon.

Opening her eyes, she could see a forest covered with snow.

Her passive was instantly activated as she felt oddly comfortable. As if she was at a long lost home.

"Well this princess is a snow girl. It makes sense." She mused to herself.

Jumping up, she balanced herself on a small tree branch and sent out her senses. Since she is a snow girl, by monster logic, everything that is connected to snow should reveal itself.

'Bingo.' She thought with a smile.

She could picture a map of the entire first floor with spots of red signifying the wolves.

"Hehe, this dungeon might be bad for most adventurers. But to this princess, it's my playground." Shiro laughed before launched herself towards the first group wolves.

They were shocked at her sudden appearance by soon reacted by sending out ice magic.

"Bad move." Shiro grinned.

With a simple flick of her wrist, the ice magic shifted targets and shot back towards the wolves.

Some of the wolves couldn't react fast enough and was pierced by their own magic.

Tapping her necklace, Shiro summoned her swords and embedded then with the metal element, boosting it's attack power further.

Yin Style Phantom Arts: Asura Sword Path + Refraction!

Her swords gave off a faint light before splitting into 3 copies of themselves.

Seeing the swords slash towards them, the wolves didn't know which is real and could only try to dodge blindly.

However, even if they guessed right, Shiro could easily switch the location of her sword with one of the refracted copies and slash the wolves that way.

In a single short moment, the previously ferocious pack of wolves that could have killed a group of adventurers lay dead in front of her.

"Yin, collect their stones while I kill some more." Shiro ordered as she didn't bother about their drops.

The best thing that this dungeon could give her was some armour but she already had her set armour that she wasn't about to replace anytime soon.